EILEN JEWELL – SEA OF TEAS

Eilen hails from Boston, Sea of Tears is her third album, and she’s better known for her roots-y, country work than what she’s doing here – which is rocking out circa 1960. A cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ Shakin’ All Over is the centrepiece, and it’s a pretty blistering, albeit faithful, rendition of the ’65 British hit; the difference is Jewell’s southern-belle croon, and Jerry Miller’s hot, hot axe-work. One can imagine them playing the school dance; surf-rock guitars and sexy slow numbers. Sea of Tears doesn’t have the versatile funk of last year’s big rock/country/roots panache, Raising Sand with Plant and Krauss, nor the full-on country/alt-rock sensibility of Loretta Lyn’s work with Jack White, Van Lear Rose, two albums which surely lurk behind any “going rock” project like this. But Jewel’s strength is in taking her chosen “sound” and crafting a set of dark, compelling songs to complement it. These songs evoke scenes of estranged domesticity: jilted lovers dress in black, “the only thing that moves is the laundry on the line” (One of Those Days), and to close the album, she sings “take me in your Codeine arms”. Jewell’s is a dark world, delivered with a convincing swagger – no gimmicky throwback here.

***1/2